Girls get insight into fashion industry

PUPILS were given an insight into the fashion industry when a pupil returned to a city school.
Madeleine Michell leads the fashion workshop with Emma Allison, Florence Atkinson and Lauren SuttonMadeleine Michell leads the fashion workshop with Emma Allison, Florence Atkinson and Lauren Sutton
Madeleine Michell leads the fashion workshop with Emma Allison, Florence Atkinson and Lauren Sutton

Madeleine Michell, who left the Portsmouth High School in 2014, went back to talk to Year 9 and 10 youngsters about sustainability.

She said: ‘I wanted to explore with the girls their thoughts on what is fashion and what is sustainability. In the words of yachtswoman, Ellen MacArthur, ‘we need a new textile economy in which clothes are designed differently, worn longer, and recycled and reused much more often.’

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Madeleine completed a placement with top fashion and textile designer Mary Katrantzou.

She added: ‘Alongside the workshop, I am conducting a study which explores an approach to changing the fashion buying habits, specifically of young women, which are having a negative impact on our global environment.

‘The girls engaged in a simple garment- making process, using part circle-shaped pieces of fabric to construct a garment to fit their body. This, hopefully, will encourage understanding, through participation, of the skills required to make clothing.

Year 9 pupil Zara Best said: ‘I never realised how much waste there was.

‘And it has made me appreciate how big the industry is.’